A Pirate's Tale: The Only Solution Is Retribution (37 page)

Embree waited and the Tortugan Official came out, “Uhhh…why have you…landed your vessel in front of…my establishment.”

“I have ten million credits to deposit in Captain Leonidas’ account.  Do you have enough employees to move it inside or should I take it to another bank?”

The Officials tongue went all the way around to the back of his head, “Don’t move!”  Embree waited and an hour later the Official handed him a receipt, “Please convey my appreciation to Captain Leonidas.”

“I’ll be sure to do it.”  Embree flew the shuttle away from Tortuga and parked it away from the filament.  A small shuttle from the Thermopylae arrived and he flew it an additional thousand miles from the filament.  He boarded the small shuttle and arrived at the building where the crew was living.  He thanked the pilot for the lift and walked to Leonidas’ office where he found Blakely, Desiree, Gold, Victoria and Gem.

Leonidas looked up and said, “Embree, what did they decide?”

Embree walked over to his desk and said, “They want Romanov’s daughter.  He tossed a piece of paper on Leonidas’ desk and turned around.

“What is this?” Leo asked.

“They paid another ten million credits and I deposited it into your account at the bank.”  Embree walked out of the room and everyone stared at him as he disappeared out of the door.

Leo started shaking his head and Desiree said, “Does he get excited about anything?”

Leo smiled, “I imagine he’s giving himself a high five outside the door right now. Em does love making an entrance.”

Blakely laughed and said, “Since you were paid to capture me, shouldn’t I get some of the proceeds?”

Leonidas smiled, “Sure, how much do you want?”

Blakely stopped smiling, “Nothing, I was just kidding.”

“You are helping us make this happen, how much do you want?”

“No, really, I was just kidding.”

“Do you have a white card?”  Blakely nodded.  “Let me have it.”  Blakely pulled his account card out and Leo pressed some numbers on his card.  He put the two cards together and felt them vibrate.  He looked at Blakely and said, “I’ve transferred six million credits to your account.”

“Leonidas, you don’t have to do this.”

“Is it against the laws to bribe a Council Member for special treatment?”

Blakely chuckled, “That’s how things get done here.”

“Well, you deserve it.  Your willingness to sacrifice yourself to save all of us deserves more than that.”

Blakely smiled, “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.  Let’s get back to discussing what we’re going to do if Romanov presses the button.”

• • •

The bells in the top of the Meeting Building in the center of Fellowship began ringing and everyone in the city wondered why the Council was calling for a general meeting.  Everyone stopped what they were doing and began moving toward the arena as quickly as possible.  Traffic Control had stopped all ships from leaving orbit a week earlier and the Council was being barraged by questions from pirates that wanted to go out to plunder other ships.  This meeting would probably provide answers that Traffic Control would not provide.  It took four hours for the arena to fill and everyone wondered what was going on.  Many were also wondering why all the ships in orbit had been inspected and a device installed on board.  This was not normal and everyone was on edge.

• • •

Blakely heard over his communicator, “That’s all of them, Councilor.”

He sounded the tone and stood up.  The arena was silent as everyone waited for Blakely to speak.  Blakely lifted the microphone and said, “I know many of you are upset that you have not been allowed to leave to go about your normal business.  I also know that most of you are questioning why a device has been installed on your ships without asking permission.  I am going to tell you what’s going on and I am going to demand that what is discussed here stays here.  Is that clear?”  The room remained silent and the assembly all started looking around the room at each other.

Blakely waited a moment and then said, “Nearly every one of our vessels have been booby trapped along with most of the cities on Tortuga.”  The room exploded in shouts and Blakely waited until they died down.  He didn’t sound the tone but allowed the attendees to scream their disbelief.  Finally, the huge building grew silent.

“I know that what I’m saying sounds impossible but allow me to explain how it was done.  Romanov Industries, who manufactures most of the advanced electronics used in our galaxy, has developed a way to teleport items between a sending module and a receiving module.  The room started stirring and Blakely quickly said, “I didn’t believe it either but I have seen one of these modules in operation.  It does work!”

“THAT’S CRAZY TALK!!” a pirate in the front row yelled.  “WHAT PROOF DO YOU HAVE!?”

Blakely turned around and motioned Leonidas forward.  Leo walked up next to Blakely and was given the microphone.  “I was hired by Serge Romanov to come here and capture Captain John Blakely.”  The silence was deafening.  “Romanov installed a box on one of my shuttles large enough to put a man in and was told that if I press the green button on it, Blakely would be sent to his headquarters building.  I told Romanov he was insane and that teleportation was impossible.  He sent fifteen million Unity Credits into that box to pay for a contract to capture Captain Blakely.  All of you saw me deposit it in the bank.  The thing works.  We discovered a frequency emanating from the box that was outside the range of any communication frequency we’ve ever seen and it took a brilliant engineer to finally track it down.  The module developed by Romanov sends out this frequency constantly and wherever it can be detected, a teleportation module exists.  When we sent people out to inspect your vessels, we were looking for the presence of that frequency.  If we installed a device on your ship, a Romanov teleport module was present.  We found them in most of the ships we inspected along with more than a hundred locations on Tortuga.  More than half of the Tortugan Commercial Ships also had that frequency in them.”

“There are no devices on my ship!”

Leo looked at the Pirate Fleet Commander that yelled from the front row and he asked, “Did we install a device on your ship?” a voice shouted loudly from the balcony.

“You did!”

“This is what all of you need to understand.  The receiving module can be hidden inside a communication circuit, or a blaster coil, or the wire that is used to power any electronic circuits on your ships.  Now I know that sounds incredibly small but how much Trillium would it take to blow up your ship?”  The Fleet Commander’s eyes went wide.  Leo nodded, “It would only take a milligram to cause a massive explosion and I happen to know that Romanov has purchased eight trillion Credits worth of Trillium and probably has much more than that at his disposal.”

“Why is he after Fellowship!?” Another Pirate shouted.

Leo handed the microphone back to Blakely, “Actually, we are just a secondary consideration.  He put his modules here as an afterthought.  His main targets are the Unity and the Insectoid Planets.”  Blakely waited for that to sink in and then said, “We have taken a look at the Government Planet and every continent on Cruet is giving off that frequency.  We estimate there are more than half a million of those modules there and there is no possible way to remove them before he could detonate them.”

Geoffrey stood up and shouted, “Why should we care if the Unity and Insectoids get blasted away.  That’s no skin off our backs.”

Blakely saw hundreds around him nodding.  “Normally, I would agree with your assessment.  However, why did he put those modules on our ships and cities?”  Blakely paused as the pirates all thought about the question.  “I understand from someone that was once inside Romanov’s business that he has been building warships for more than twenty years.  If he fails to destroy us with the devices he’s planted here, we will be the first target of his fleet.  We might be able to scatter and flee where some of us will survive but Fellowship and Tortuga will be blasted into rubble.  He will then send all his ships out to hunt us down and eliminate us as a possible adversary.  He intends to take total control of this galaxy and with everyone that can oppose him removed, he will do it.”  Blakely looked around the room and then said, “I am going to give you a few minutes to discuss among yourselves what you think about this situation and I ask that the Fleet Commanders and other Leaders put your heads together to offer suggestions to the Council on how we should respond to this threat.”

Blakely sat down and the room exploded as pirates began screaming.

T
he arena was loud for more than two hours and then the noise started to abate.  By the end of the third hour, it was silent.  Blakely stood up and lifted the microphone, “Have you come up with suggestions?”

The Hiyten Fleet Commander stood up, “We cannot.  There are too many wanting to do hundreds of different things.  We have decided to listen to what the Council would suggest.”

The Fleet Commander sat down and Blakely looked around the arena from the upper floors to the lower level directly in front of him before saying, “We believe that we are stronger together than we are alone.  I do not choose to run and wait to be attacked by Romanov ships that outnumber me.  I am also beyond rage at what he has tried to do to Fellowship.  This is my home and if anyone comes to my home and threatens me, I will do everything in my power to make them pay for it.  I will go and attack Romania, even if I have to go alone with my ships.”

Leonidas stood up and shouted, “I will be going with you, Captain!”

The Argyan Commander stood and yelled, “And we will follow our Captain!”

It started slow but more and more Commanders stood up and yelled they would fight as well.  Soon, it was a tsunami as every pirate stood and yelled their support.  The cheering started and Blakely stood at the front table and raised his arms.  The roar was incredible.  It did not slow down and only grew louder.

Then…a Tortugan walked up on the stage and looked at Blakely.  Blakely turned to him and he said, “Captain, may I address the gathering?”  Blakely’s eyes widened and he handed the microphone to the Tortugan.  The Tortugan looked out at the screaming assembly and they quickly grew silent.  He lifted the microphone and said, “We are touched that you are willing to go out and fight to save our world.  I know that we’ve taken everything we can get from you in payments for the materials you need to operate your ships.  However, we have decided that we will provide all the stores you need to carry out this venture and will not be charging you anything.  My citizens and I thank you and so deeply appreciate your willingness to place yourselves between us and the Romanov menace.”

The assembly exploded and it was more than four hours later that Blakely was able to issue the attack plans.  For the first time in Fellowship’s history, the pirates were truly united into one force.

• • •

Three weeks had passed since Embree had contacted Romanov and he sat in front of a communication screen and pressed buttons on the console in front of him.  After a few minutes, the smiling middle aged man appeared on the screen, “Do you have her!?”

“NO!  CAPTAIN LEONIDAS AND THE REST OF MY CREW HAVE BEEN EXECUTED!  SOMEONE IN YOUR ORGANIZATION CONTACTED BLAKELY AND TOLD HIM WHAT WE WERE PLANNING!”

The Chief’s eyes narrowed, “How are you still alive?”

“I’ve remained in the shuttle and the pirate ships are out looking for me.  I’m far off the filament and I know they are intercepting this transmission.  I need to speak to Serge Romanov.”

“Talk to me!”

“NO!  LEONIDAS TOLD ME IF THINGS WENT BAD TO ONLY TALK TO HIM.  HURRY!”

The Chief contacted Serge and told him what was going on.  Serge appeared on Embree’s display and asked, “What do you want?”

“Leonidas told me to tell you that when the Starliner was originally attacked, the target was not what was in the safe but Ana, her sister and baby, along with that woman named Lyla.  The pirate was ordered not to harm you.  They didn’t know it was a twin.  Who would want them killed and not want to harm you?”

Serge stared at the display as Embree asked, “Will you allow me to go in the box and transfer me to your location?”

“Do you have any more information?”

“No, that’s all Leonidas told me.”  Serge continued to stare at Embree as he pleaded, “Please!  They’re coming off the filament towards me!”

Serge lowered his eyes, “Go to the box and press the button to receive.”

“But…”

“I need to reset the box on this end before I can transport you here.”

Embree disappeared from the display and then reappeared a few moments later, “I’ve pressed it!”

Serge smiled, “You shouldn’t have failed me.”  Serge pressed a button on his panel and the shuttle went up in a massive blast.”

The Security Chief looked at Serge on his monitor, “Sir, was that necessary?  I might have been able to extract more information from him.”

“He gave all I need!”  Serge disappeared from the Chief’s display as he shook his head at what he had witnessed.

• • •

Leonidas looked at Embree, “I’m glad you were able to build that remote control arm to press the receive button.”

“Setting up the remote controls on the shuttle’s communicator was more problematic.”

Leo activated his communicator, “Did everyone see it?”

Blakely was standing on the podium in the Arena and every pirate watched the video of the shuttle being destroyed on the monitors scattered around the room.  “We did.  You need to go and take care of your end.”

“I’ll be leaving momentarily.  I’ll let you know what happens.”  Leo looked at Barney, “Take us to the coordinates I’ve given you.”

“Boosting now, Captain.”

• • •

The Spider listened to the message sent to Serge and leaned back.  That damn Leonidas had figured it out and Serge would do the same thing very quickly.  It pressed a button on the console and it disappeared behind an armored wall.  A moment later, four armed security guards blew in the front door, rushed in, and surrounded the Spider.  They grabbed it by the arms and hauled it out of the room.